


Cages of Our Own Making

by CaspianTheGeek (DemonicGeek)



Category: Good Omens (TV)
Genre: 10 years post apocalypse, Angst, Aziraphale Loves Crowley (Good Omens), Aziraphale/Crowley centric, Battle, Crowley Loves Aziraphale (Good Omens), Defecting from Heaven/Hell, Established Aziraphale/Crowley (Good Omens), Everyone is trans/queer unless stated otherwise, Fighting, Fluff, Lack of acceptance, M/M, Neo Pronouns, Nonbinary and queer feelings, Nonbinary/Nonbinary, Other, Queer Themes, injuries, nonbinary author
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-24
Updated: 2020-05-19
Packaged: 2021-03-01 04:34:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 8
Words: 18,512
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23289328
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DemonicGeek/pseuds/CaspianTheGeek
Summary: Aziraphale is captured and held as bait to lure Crowley back to Hell. Things are not looking good for our favorite duo until Aziraphale makes an unlikely ally.But what do you do with a demon who can no longer return to Hell? And what happens once others also get the idea and start joining in? Aziraphale and Crowley have to figure out how help the new arrivals get established on Earth. Luckily they have some help along the way, but even when things go as planned, there's always problems. And not everyone is happy about the new Defectors.First chapter features some not pretty capture scenes, please read with caution. Later chapters will have battle scenes. There will be plenty of fluff in between. And I always promise a happy ending, this case both for our favorite duo and the friends they make along the way. Lots of OCs, but the primary focus will stay on Aziraphale and Crowley.All the demons and angels are non-binary, so be prepared for neo pronouns and occasional gender discussions.
Relationships: Aziraphale/Crowley (Good Omens)
Comments: 61
Kudos: 132
Collections: On The Topic Of Gender





	1. The Cage

Aziraphale was cursing his foolishness. He knew that while they’d scared Heaven and Hell, neither had truly given up on the pair. He knew he needed to pay attention to his surroundings. He was a soldier for Heaven’s sake, or well, he used to be.

None of that solved the problem that he was now sitting in a cage in Hell.

He stared at the locked door. The one that he should have been able to simply push past. He was strong, after all. Something was suppressing his powers.

Crowley was going to come looking for him soon. The demon would notice his absence. It had been one day since Crowley had left the bookshop on his three day errand, which meant Aziraphale had two at best before he would be home. If he found Aziraphale gone, he may give it one more day before worrying.

And then Crowley would start to look for him. Aziraphale was terrified as to what that would mean. Being caught himself was bad enough, but the thought of Crowley down here, of Crowley captured froze him from the inside out.

He tried to think of something, anything he hadn’t tried yet. Crowley was the one who came up with the ideas. Still he stared at the lock and he thought. He needed to get out of here before Crowley came looking.

Hours later he noticed a face peeking around the corner, staring at him. Measuring him.

The demon staring at him wasn’t his demon, no. This one was relatively lacking in the scars and markings that most of the demons had, but he did have horns. Though Aziraphale thought that may just be how his hair was styled. If Aziraphale wasn’t mistaken he had on some earth-style make-up. And he held a cell phone in his hand.

Well, things couldn’t get much worse and at least this was a welcome distraction. “Hello there.”

The demon came around the corner, still staring. Aziraphale was fascinated. His body language was terrified, but his eyes, they were hopeful.

The demon stared him down. “They say-” he paused. “They say that you don’t hate us? Or well, don’t hate demons. Say you even like Crowley.”

Aziraphale noticed there was no question. He decided to answer the unanswered one. “That’s true.”

“Why?” The demon wasn’t relaxing. If anything he seemed a bit stiffer.

“What’s your name?”

“Why?”

Aziraphale sighed. “I find it easier when I talk to people to know their names. You don’t need to give me your true name, if you’d like. But what would you like me to call you?”

The demon seemed to almost spit the name. “Legion. They call me Legion”

Aziraphale noted that. It reminded him far too much of another demon so long ago. “Well, Legion.” he said the name carefully. He debated how much to give this demon. He couldn’t give him anything that hurt Crowley, and yet he needed honesty. “I met a friend. Long ago. So, so long ago. He was patient with me. He gave me the space I needed to ask questions.”

Legion’s face almost seemed to crack. “How’d you ask questions and not fall?”

“I don’t know.” Truth. Aziraphale would answer as truthfully as he could. “I truly don’t. Perhaps it was because my friend asked so many of them for me, but I certainly thought them and we all know She knows.”

“I didn’t mean to fall.”

Aziraphale’s heart cracked. So much pain, so much of it unnecessary. He thought of Crowley. He tried to find what this demon needed, to ease this pain. “No, I don’t suppose you did. And I’m sorry. For the pain. I don’t understand it myself.”

Legion looked away and then back for a moment. “Do all the angels think like you?”

“Oh no, my dear. Not at all. Most of them don’t like me much, though there’s one or two that don’t mind me.”

Legion seemed to consider him and then he let himself slide down the wall, sinking into a slouched position on the ground still staring at Aziraphale.

“Can you tell me about Earth?”

Aziraphale smiled. “Of course. Anything you’d like to know.”

Legion looked up at the ceiling. “I get up there as often as I can, but that’s not often.”

“I’ve been there since the beginning. All six thousand years. What’s your favorite thing? Maybe I can tell you a bit more about it.”

For the first time since Legion came in the room he smiled. “Dogs. I like dogs.”

Aziraphale gave a soft laugh. This he could work with. Or at least it’d keep his mind off Crowley for a bit. Without any further prompting, he launched into a discussion with a demon about dogs.

\-----------------------

Aziraphale was cognizant of the fact that he’d been trapped here for twenty four hours. The clock was ticking. Legion spent a good deal of time talking to him, but he still had spent hours trying everything he could to escape. He couldn’t miracle. None of his powers seemed to work. And it didn’t matter how long he pried on the bars, they weren’t budging.

No demons had been by except Legion. He didn’t know what they intended for him, or if they simply were going to leave him here forever.

Aziraphale decided to give himself a moment. He leaned back and closed his eyes, thinking of Crowley. The demon’s face floated in his minds eye, ever changing and morphing between all the ways he’d looked over the years. He let himself smile.

“Fancy you, smiling while you’re stuck down here.”

Aziraphale didn’t open his eyes. “Hello, Legion.”

There was silence for a moment. “Eric, angel. You can call me Eric.”

Aziraphale opened his eyes and smiled at him. “It’s nice to meet you, Eric.”

“Er. Nice to meet you too, I suppose.”

“Eric, can I ask you something?”

“Suppose.”

Aziraphale turned his blue eyes to meet the brown eyed demon. “What do they plan for me?”

Eric seemed to stare at him, debating for a moment. “I- I don’t know. I only came down here because of who you were. Because-” Eric paused. “Because you found your own way out. Seemed like a nice thing to do. Seemed like something others may want to.”

Aziraphale didn’t feel very out. But that didn’t matter now. He didn’t want to risk his one very shaky ally in this literal Hell. And he was piqued by the interest. He knew there were others of course. The ones who didn’t fit the mold of Heaven and Hell quite as well. He reflected briefly on where he’d be if he hadn’t had Crowley to push him out of things.

“Just as well, I suppose. Can you do something for me?”

Eric scoffed. “This when you ask me to let you out? Pretty big ask. You know what they’d do to a demon for that.”

“No, no I wouldn’t dare. You wouldn’t risk that for me. Shouldn’t. No, just a small favor.”

“Wot’s that?”

Aziraphale let his eyes slide shut again. “I just wondered if you could deliver a message for me. If this goes as Hell intends. Could you-” he voice stopped. He knew what he was saying. He knew he shouldn’t. “Tell Crowley I said it wasn’t his fault. And that he should be happy.”

There was silence for a moment. Then a quiet. “Yeah, angel.”

They sat in silence for a few minutes. Then Eric was off, asking him about Paris. He’d seen it on some show or another. Aziraphale smiled and launched into an explanation of crepes.

\-------------------------

It had been 36 hours. Time was running out. Aziraphale debated pulling on the bars again, even though he knew it would do any good.

Eric came strolling in. It was almost a dance. “Hey, Aziraphale.”

He nodded. “Eric.”

Eric plopped on the floor, rather close to the cage at this point Aziraphale noted. He wondered at how quickly the demon had come to nearly trust him. Then he realized how little positive attention he’d probably received.

“Aziraphale, what’s Heaven like?”

“Different than here. But a lot is the same.”

Eric nodded slowly. “What’s the same?”

Aziraphale considered for a moment. “The bureaucracy. The lack of trust. The belief that they’re right. It’s not- Heaven is cold, Eric. Instead of hot. But it’s not a comfortable cold. It’s the cold that burns you on a winter day.”

“Never been up during winter.”

Aziraphale turned to him, eyes wide. “Never? Have you ever seen snow?”

Eric shook his head, a wistful expression on his face. Aziraphale launched into an explanation of the snow and the cold and exactly what it felt like. Eric smiled, excitement showing on his face. He looked particularly excited about the hot chocolate after the time spent outside.

\-------------------------------

It was almost 48 hours on the dot when Eric came in running, out of breath. “Aziraphale, they caught him. He was trying to sneak in, trying to find you. They were using you as bait, and now they’ve got him.”

Aziraphale’s heart stopped. “Crowley?”

Eric’s terrified nod confirmed it all. Confirmed his worst fears.

Aziraphale tried to hold steady. He tried to think. What could he do now, they were both captured, and Heaven only knew what they’d be doing to Crowley. He felt a tear roll down his cheek. Felt himself start to shake.

“You love him.”

Aziraphale tore his eyes back to Eric’s. “I do.”

“Even though he’s a demon?”

Aziraphale forced a soft smile. “He’s my demon. And I am his. We’re not that different, not really.”

Eric seemed to consider him for a moment. Then his hands were on the lock. “We need to get you both out of here.” He gave a tug. It didn’t budge.

“Aziraphale, I’m going to need some help. Don’t get freaked out, okay?” Eric looked up at him.

Aziraphale nodded.

Suddenly, five more Erics were in the room. And it dawned on Aziraphale. Legion. Of course. And six did what one could not; the door popped open.

Aziraphale felt the flood of his powers returning. “Eric, are they all- do you- How many of you are there? And how do we get them all out?”

“All out?”

“You can’t stay here after this, dear boy. You’ll be safe at the bookshop for a bit until we sort things out.”

All the Eric’s were staring at him. Finally the one he was thinking of as Eric-prime spoke. “I can- I can come with you? You’d do that? I could see more of Earth?”

“Crowley” and his voice cracked. He took a breath. “Crowley and I call it our side. Perhaps we need to call it Earth’s side now. But yes, dear boy. Yes.”

Eric stared a moment longer. Then things seemed to almost click in all six heads at once. “Let’s go get Crowley, then we’ll sort it out, yeah?”

Aziraphale nodded. “Do you know where he is?”

Eric nodded and turned to the door. Aziraphale followed behind Eric-prime. He wasn’t sure where the other Erics disappeared off to, but one by one they disappeared.

“Stalling.” Eric muttered when he saw Aziraphale raise an eyebrow as another Eric walked off. “It’ll be fine, as long as I get out the rest can just… come.”

Aziraphale nodded.

It felt like years even if it was just minutes later that they rounded the corner and had a view into a small auditorium. A couple dozen demons were staring at a small raised stage.

Crowley was on it. Bound. Gagged. Aziraphale felt his blood run cold. “Eric?”

“Yeah?”

“If you leave now, can you get to my bookshop?”

“Your- your shop?”

“It’s in Soho. You know where Soho is? A.Z. Fell and Company. Can you get there if you leave now?”

Eric nodded.

Aziraphale turned to him, his eyes glowing a bit. “Go.” Then his face turned back to the scene in front of him. He felt Eric leave.

No one was on the stage with Crowley, and Crowley’s eyes were closed. Unconscious? Aziraphale paused and considered. He needed to get to Crowley. The rest was easily sorted. There wasn’t a high ranking demon in here from what he could tell.

Aziraphale stared at the room. Fastest path to Crowley. It was really straight forward. But if a single demon escaped this room, the alarm would sound and Aziraphale didn’t know the way out. He thought about how he’d sent Eric away but… there was only one demon he trusted himself not to hurt right now. And that demon was bound on a stage, eyes closed.

Before Aziraphale could decide what to do another demon was coming onto the stage. Not one he recognized. 

“See what happens to a traitor?”

The room booed.

“Not just any traitor, of course. One that falls in love with an angel.” The last word was emphasized as if to show how horrible that option was. 

Aziraphale saw Crowley flinch. He needed to end this, quickly. He started casting around for something, anything he could use as a weapon. Leaning on the corner he saw a long pole. It would have to work.

As he reached out to grab it, he heard the demon continue.

“Why do you give him a taste of what we do to traitors? That is before the big show tonight, of course.”

Aziraphale looked up to see the demon step off the stage again. As soon as they were out of the way, the stage was lit up by fireballs being thrown from the audience. Aziraphale raised an eyebrow. He knew Crowley was immune to fire-

Then he realized Crowley was flinching. Flinching and smoldering in places. He saw a burn appear where a fireball hit directly on his cheek. Crowley’s eyes were still closed, but he was yelling through the gag, pulling on the rope.

Aziraphale cursed. The ropes.

Then he did the only thing he could think to do. He had to stop them, had to stop them right now. 

Aziraphale, Guardian of the Eastern Gate, manifested his wings and felt himself grow slightly in height as he began to glow. His voice was calm, but loud. “Stop.”

Every demon turned to look at him.

He didn’t pause, he lowered the pole, letting his energy flow through it until it flamed brightly. His first swipe discorporated at least six demons. He thought to himself it was a start, then he began to fight.

Aziraphale let the divine energy flow off of him, lighting the room. Careful to keep it just far enough away that it would only blind his enemies and not Crowley. Never that.

He didn’t have Crowley’s graceful movements. He knew that. But each of his swings was accompanied by force. He tried to ensure each strong swing took out as many demons as he could.

At point one he felt one climbing his back. He snapped his wings together, and heard the demon fall to the floor.

It was all a blur of motion his only thought to get through this. To get rid of them and get to Crowley, always to Crowley. Crowley was hurt and he needed to- 

Swing. He needed to swing and use his wings for a swipe here and-

Finally Aziraphale was staring down what he thought was the last demon in the room. One last one, still grinning at him. Aziraphale thought about approaching him. Instead he just let loose a bit of divine power right at the demon. They screamed as they discorporated.

He turned to the stage, anxious to check on Crowley. To ensure he wasn’t really injured to-

There was one demon left standing on the stage. And they had a knife to Crowley’s throat.

“Don’t come any closer, angel. Or he discorporates. Or dies. Not really sure what this knife will do, it’s celestial steel you see.”

“Let. Him. Go.” Aziraphale gave no option in his voice, brokered no deal.

He and the demon stared at each other. Aziraphale could see the knife beginning to draw a drop of blood on Crowley’s neck. He pushed down the panic. He was a soldier and-

And then the demon’s knife fell to the floor. Instead Aziraphale saw a blade protruding from their chest as the demon fell over. Behind them stood Eric.

“Realized you didn’t exactly know the way out, and I didn’t know if he’d be in any position to help so-”

Aziraphale flashed him a smile as he threw his pole to the side and ran for Crowley. The first thing he did was untie his wrists. He felt his sense of Crowley return, powers no longer dampened by whatever suppression field there was. Next he pulled the gag from his mouth, then simply pulled the demon into his arms.

He saw Eric turn away as he looked Crowley over. Now that he was out of the ropes, the wounds left by the fire balls were quickly healing. And Crowley’s eyes were open, and on him, staring in disbelief.

“..ziraphale?”

“I’m here, love. I’ve got you.” Aziraphale pulled him up, cradling him against his chest.

“Came for you” Crowley’s hand raised to Aziraphale’s cheek. Crowley stared into the angel’s eyes then seemed to almost shake his head for a moment clearing it. “Where are we?”

Aziraphale gave a light chuckle. “We’re in Hell, love.”

It took a moment for the words to process and then Crowley was pushing up in his arms, looking around aghast. “Wot- how- Why? Aziraphale when you got free why didn’t you just run?”

“And leave you behind? What do you take me for?”

“A foolish principality, apparently…” Crowley began to struggle from his arms, trying to stand.

Aziraphale gently tightened his hold, pulling him closer. “Who is utterly besotted by a demon, but yes. Regardless, I wasn’t going to leave you here, love. But you came down here for me.”

Crowley stopped pulling and instead turned towards Aziraphale, his hand traced gently through his hair, pulling the angel in closer for-

“Not to interrupt but we do still need to get out of here.” Eric was smiling, but also glancing at the door.

Crowley hissed from Aziraphale’s arms. “Demon.”

Aziraphale gave him a gentle shake. “Be nice. He’s my friend.”

Eric looked relieved. Crowley grimaced a bit, but couldn’t help smiling at the look on the angel’s face.

“Y’know you could put me down, angel?”

Aziraphale leaned down and kisses his forehead. “Not quite yet.” Aziraphale gently moved Crowley so he was cradled in a single arm, bringing his other hand up to gently trace his arm, his shoulder, any part of him he could reach. Desperate to ascertain the demon in his arms was safe, and whole after the scene he witnessed.

Crowley seemed to sense it. He reached up running a hand gently through Aziraphale’s hair. “I’m fine, angel. Truly. You’re here. I’m fine.”

Aziraphale glanced down at him, Crowley’s name a whisper on his lips.

Then there was the sound of a throat clearing behind them. “Not that I want to interrupt you two, but you know, escape?”

Aziraphale sighed, looking at the demon in his arms. Crowley smirked. Aziraphale contented himself with the look on his demon’s face as tore his glance away to look up at Eric. “Lead the way?”

Aziraphale wasn’t sure what he expected during the exit of Hell. It certainly wasn’t that it was going to go as smoothly as it did, Crowley tucked against him in his arm still. He wondered that Crowley was willing to let him carry him, but decided it was best to sort at home.

Then he realized that versions of Eric were still peeling off and coming back down the hallways. Stalling. Distracting the other demons as Eric led them to one of the side exits.

They slid through together, coming out in London. Still a bus ride away from the bookshop, but back on Earth again. Aziraphale considered putting Crowley down, it’d be more suspicious by human standards. Then he decided he just couldn’t.

Eric looked at him expectantly. Aziraphale led the way to the nearest bus stop and waited. They boarded together, Eric sitting, almost antsy beside them. He was nearly bouncing in his seat. Crowley merely sighed and curled into Aziraphale’s chest. He thought he heard Crowley mutter that he wanted the full story as he tucked himself in against Aziraphale.

They rode in silence, though there were the occasional mutters from where the demon was resting against him, half asleep. Aziraphale felt himself relax. Crowley was safe in his arms again. That was enough for now.

Aziraphale used a quick miracle to have the bus stop next to the bookshop rather than at the stop further down so the three could disembark and not have far to walk. He held the door open for Eric, nodding to gesture him into the shop.

Aziraphale followed him in carefully depositing Crowley on the couch. His demon gave a whine as Aziraphale let go. Aziraphale contented himself with a quick forehead kiss and a promise to be back in just a moment that seemed to content Crowley for now. He glanced at the angel, nodding and waving him on.

Aziraphale turned back to Eric. “For tonight, would it work to just settle you in the spare room? We can figure things out tomorrow. We put wards on this shop soon after the not-Apocalypse, you know. Just in case. Preventative measure. But no one can get in here from either side without someone we trust letting them in. It’s safe for you to rest a bit. You’re of course welcome to borrow a book or two-”

Eric held up a cell phone. “I understand. Y’two need some time.”

Aziraphale smiled as he led the young demon down the hall to the spare room in the back. “If you need anything, you will let us know?”

“‘Course.”

Aziraphale waited long enough to watch the younger demon flop down on the bed, phone pulled out and scrolling before he turned and headed back down the hall.

He was relieved to see Crowley standing, leaning on the door frame.

Crowley’s arms opened as he drew near, inviting. “Angel” he whispered as Aziraphale now let himself be tucked into Crowley’s arms. “They took you?” He felt as much as heard Crowley whisper into his hair.

“I’m fine, love. They took me. I wasn’t being careful, was out wine shopping.” Aziraphale felt Crowley’s arms tighten around him.

“Did they hurt you?”

Aziraphale nuzzled him, hearing the fear in his voice. “No, love. No. They just put me in a cage and used me to lure you in. I- I got to know Eric. He didn’t harm me. None of them did. I was just bait. I was terrified you’d come. Eric let me out when you were captured.”

“Wasn’t going to leave you down there, angel. Hated it took me so long. Hated I didn’t know.”

Aziraphale tilted his head up, kissing Crowley’s jaw gently. “Wasn’t your fault, my dearest. Not at all.”

“Still should have known.”

Aziraphale raised a hand up, gently placing it on Crowley’s cheek and directly his eyes back down to Aziraphale’s. “Don’t you dare.”

“Wot?”

“Don’t you dare blame yourself. I saw what they did to you Crowley. I was just bait. Bait so they could-” Aziraphale cut off. The scene on the stage dominating his thoughts.

“I’d hoped you hadn’t seen that.” And now he felt Crowley’s hand on his cheek. Pulling his face forward. Guiding it until their lips met softly. “Love you, angel. Will always come.”

“That’s what worries me, my love.”

Crowley sighed as he kissed Aziraphale again. “Going to have to agree to disagree here, angel. Would you leave me behind?”

“Never.”

“Mmm. That’s what I thought.” Without another word Crowley carefully scooped Aziraphale up, carrying him past the spare room to theirs in the back and depositing him softly on the bed.

Aziraphale looked up at him. “Really, tonight, dear?”

“Just want to curl up with you, angel. Bed’s comfier.”

Aziraphale opened his arms, and Crowley crawled in. He rested his head on Aziraphale’s chest, sighing softly as Aziraphale began stroking his hair.

“Want to talk about it, -ziraphale?” Aziraphale had to smile at Crowley’s already half asleep voice. He’d keep the demon safe tonight.

“No, not tonight. Rest, love. Morning will be soon enough.”


	2. Breakfast

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aziraphale, Crowley, and Eric have escaped from Hell. But that doesn't mean things are over. 
> 
> Eric needs to adjust to life in the human world, and Aziraphale and Crowley need to discuss their next move.
> 
> "Finally Crowley opened his mouth again. “So what do we do with Eric?”
> 
> “Give him a chance?”
> 
> Crowley looked into Aziraphale’s eyes. “We can do that. Give him a chance.” And then he leaned in for a soft kiss. As it broke he smiled at the angel. “Should probably make some breakfast. Pancakes work?”"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for the comments <3 The good news is, it is written! Mostly. I need to edit the last couple chapters quite a bit. But we have a chapter count! Updates will come every 3-7 days because I don't know what day it is in the best of times and right now all hope is gone of that.

Crowley felt Aziraphale breathing evenly under him. He fought the urge to tighten his arms around the angel. If Aziraphale was sleeping, he needed the rest. It was rare that Crowley awakened before the angel.

Crowley slowly blinked his eyes awake and let himself stare at the sleeping angel. He was so beautiful. And he’d been in danger because of him again. Crowley couldn’t let that happen again, but that was a problem for later.

Aziraphale sighed in his sleep and muttered Crowley’s name as his arms tightened around the demon. Crowley smiled and nuzzled into his chest.

Then the angel started shaking. Crowley reached out his senses and felt terror. Despair. The angel under him started crying.

  
Crowley shook Aziraphale gently. “Angel. Angel. Wake up, I’m here. I’m here.”

Aziraphale’s eyes shot open. “Crowley?”

Crowley kissed his nose. “Right here, love. Right here.”

“You- they-” Aziraphale looked at him, still terrified.

Crowley pushed down a cringe. Aziraphale had seen too much. Had seen the few minutes on the stage at the very least. He thanked someone that the angel hadn’t seen his capture and what led to that. “S’ok, angel. You came for me. Rescued me. I’m here. And you’re here. Both safe. You know they can’t get in here.”

Aziraphale stared into his eyes, almost as if seeking for the lie. There wasn’t one. Then the angel’s eyes closed as a whoosh of air exited his lungs. Crowley rested his head back on Aziraphale’s chest again. They were done sleeping, but Aziraphale’s hand came up to run slowly through his hair.

“It’s getting longer.”

“Mmph. Was bored with it being so short all the time but growing it out is a pain.”

They both fell quiet. Angel hands ran through his hair. Crowley shivered. “Love you. Was scared I wasn’t going to get to tell you that again. What happened?”

“Nothing that I didn’t tell you much of last night, love. Got ambushed just outside the wine shop. Was too busy trying to balance the bags.” The angel grimaced. “I suppose that wine is either lying in the street or was spilled everywhere. What a waste.”

Crowley chuckled at the pique in his voice.

“Anyway, I woke up in a cage. I tried all I could to get out, but nothing worked. It was dreadful. I was torn between wishing you were there to give me ideas and being relieved you weren’t.”

Crowley shuddered. His angel. In a cage in Hell.

“It was fine, dear. Truly. Nothing happened. I was just worried they’d catch you too and then they did-” Aziraphale cut off. Then he seemed to reconsider. “Eric. He- he came to talk to me. He asked me quite a bit about Earth. Seems he didn’t want to be down in Hell.”

“Can’t say I blame him.”

Aziraphale hummed into Crowley’s hair. “When you were captured, he told me. I-” Aziraphale cut off then sighed. “I started shaking. He asked if I loved you.”

Crowley tried to force a smile. “And you told him you could never love a demon?”

He felt as much as he heard Aziraphale humph under him. “Of course not. I told him how madly in love I was with the demon who stole my heart away.” He paused. “I told him you were my demon. And that I was yours.”

Crowley’s arms tightened around him. His indeed. He’d always been Aziraphale’s.

“He let me out. I’m still not entirely sure why. And he led me to you. I told him to run, but he came back. Good thing too. I’m not sure what- what would have-”

Crowley could still feel a bit of a pinprick left on his neck from the knife. “S’fine, angel. Right here.”

Aziraphale’s voice was barely more than a whisper. “I love you, Crowley.”

“Love you too, Aziraphale.”

They laid there silently for a bit. Their hands never stopped touching, exploring each other. Ensuring the other was well and truly here and safe.

Finally Crowley opened his mouth again. “So what do we do with Eric?”

“Give him a chance?”

Crowley looked into Aziraphale’s eyes. “We can do that. Give him a chance.” And then he leaned in for a soft kiss. As it broke he smiled at the angel. “Should probably make some breakfast. Pancakes work?”

“Sounds perfect.”

\---

Aziraphale was drinking some morning tea while Crowley flipped pancakes. Eric’s head appeared around the corner, staring.

“What’s that?” Eric was staring at the pan.

“Pancakes. Want some?”

Eric was still staring. “But why?”

“Why what?” One of Crowley’s eyebrows arched in confusion.

“Why eat it?”

Aziraphale looked up from his tea with a half smile. “It tastes scrumptious. Especially the way Crowley cooks them, I’m not sure what he does differently.”

Eric fell silent and slid into the kitchen, taking a chair near Aziraphale. He continued to stare at the pancake making. Crowley gave a slight shrug and went back to cooking. He’d make some extra for the demon, he knew it would please Aziraphale.

He turned, three plates in his hands, to the small kitchen table. He set one in front of each of them and sat down, attention focused more on Aziraphale than on his meal. Then he realized Aziraphale wasn’t eating, he was staring at Eric.

“Eric, have you tried pancakes before?”

The demon looked nervously at his plate. “Never, uh, never tried to eat anything.”

Aziraphale smiled. He pulled Eric’s plate over and began carefully cutting the pancakes as he spoke. “Well, these are pancakes. Not quite as nice as crepes, don’t frown like that my dear, but still very good. You cut them like so and then pour some of the syrup on and try.” Aziraphale picked up a small container of syrup that was already on the table, carefully pouring some on Eric’s pancakes then pushing them back to him. “Try them before all the syrup soaks in and makes them mushy.”

And then as if to set the example, Aziraphale took a bite of his own pancakes with a smile.

Eric almost cautiously picked up the fork and hoisted a piece of pancake. He put the bite into his mouth and then his mouth curled into a smile. “This is GOOD.”

Crowley let out a bark of laughter at the pleased look on Aziraphale’s face before the angel gave him a look and he schooled his expression back to his normal nonchalance. “Glad you like it, Eric.”

Crowley sat down and barely touched his food, moving it around vaguely with his fork. Usually he’d take a few bites and let the angel finish the rest, but today they were both staring at Eric. Eric who seemed to delight in every bite. Crowley tried to think back, tried to remember his first food so long ago. It was a fig. Not nearly as decadent at the pancakes Eric was currently consuming.

“Does all of it taste this good?”

Aziraphale answered before Crowley could. “It all tastes… different. You’ll figure out what you like.”

They watched Eric eat in silence. Then Aziraphale pushed his plate in front of him. Then Crowley. Finally Eric looked up from the food, half a grin still on his face.

“That was- that was-”

Aziraphale smiled gently. “Just wait. For now though, I need to open the shop for a bit. Perhaps Crowley could, er, show you around?”

Crowley nodded, shooing the angel out. Then he turned to look at the demon in front of him.

“Why?”

“What?” The demon looked up at Crowley, confused.

“Why did you help him?”

Eric stared at him, measuring. “He doesn’t hate us? Doesn’t hate you?”

“‘Course not. Aziraphale, he’s good. Actual good. Not whatever passes for good up there.” Crowley was relieved he had his sunglasses on. He knew he was revealing too much with his words, but if his eyes were uncovered..

“He spoke to me. Kindly. Answered my questions. Told me about Earth. Told me a bit about you too. But that wasn’t what did it.”

Crowley knew better than to interrupt. He sat in silence, waiting.

Eric sighed as he went on. “I- I came to tell him you’d been captured. Dunno why, really. But he- the look on his face. He crumbled. He looked terrified. Hadn’t seen that. He went through two days of just calmly answering my questions. Being kind, but it could have all been an act. But I told him about you and he just crumbled. Couldn’t have faked it. His body was literally shaking. He- he loves you.”

It wasn’t anything Crowley didn’t know. Aziraphale had told him it all in his own words, and he knew the depths of Aziraphale’s feelings far better than the demon sitting before him. But he felt his heart ache anyway. His angel had been concerned enough that it had saved them both somehow. Because he’d found one of the few demons in Hell who wasn’t totally blinded.

“He thinks you love him too.”

The words slipped out before Crowley could stop them. “I do.”

Eric considered him in silence. Crowley debated whether to explain himself further, and decided there was no reason to.

“How come there’s only one of you right now?”

“I, er, control that. They’re all me. They just pop up when I need them. Doubles I guess?”

Crowley nodded. “Convenient that.”

Eric shrugged.

“I don’t know what we’ll do with you, not long term. Aziraphale and I- well they mostly leave us alone. Hopefully they’ll continue to do so. Either way, best option is probably if you keep your head low for a bit. Stay inside. It’s safe here. Let it blow over. Then we’ll talk about what to do next. There’s a lot of books. Stay away from those ones in the back without a price tag. The ones that are out for the customers you’re probably welcome to read if you’d like. Otherwise, just hang low. Maybe watch the humans and learn a bit. You’ll have to do a lot of that.”

Eric nodded. He watched as Crowley made his way from the room. Watched the demon casually wrap his arms around the angel, giving him a kiss before he headed on to the back of the shop. He didn’t know what he needed to learn, but he knew for now he just wanted to watch.

He wandered into the shop and found a soft chair. Humans liked chairs, right? He sunk down into one and pulled his cell phone out, pretending to watch it as instead he began to observe the few humans that came into the shop.

\----

Crowley watched Eric observing the humans coming and going. He was nominally looking at his phone, but his eyes were consistently being dragged beyond it and to the humans. And sometimes to the angel. Eric’s eyes softened when they fell on Aziraphale. Crowley let that reassure him. He still had no idea what to do with a demon defector. Hopefully Hell would just ignore the situation.

Suddenly, all the humans in the shop were finding they had somewhere they needed to be in a hurry. Crowley glanced up at Aziraphale but the angel looked as confused as Crowley was. He started to make his way across the shop, anxious to be near the angel in case-

Just as he reached Aziraphale the front door burst open and two arguing young adults strolled in.

“Really, Adam, I am absolutely SURE you would know if something serious had-”

Adam glowered. “Something DID happen. That’s why I got that stupid note asking for my help in apprehending the fugitives. Honestly, Warlock who else would it be besides-”

Adam’s eyes settled on the angelic and demonic pair and he seemed to deflate slightly in relief.

“Crowley, why in the seven circles of Hell are you not answering your phone?”

Crowley patted down his jacket and realized the phone must have fallen out at some point during his abduction. “I, er, think I lost it in Hell now that you mention it.”

Adam didn’t say a word, he just raised an eyebrow. Crowley thought he had no right to use the look Aziraphale had so often given him. Behind him, Warlock was trying not to laugh.

“We’re fine, Adam. Really. We just, er-”

“Got captured by the denizens of Hell?” Warlock spoke up from behind.

Aziraphale muttered something that sounded vaguely like yes and both heads in the room turned to look at him.

“You- you didn’t. Why didn’t you CALL ME?” Adam rounded on Crowley. “My god parent-”

“Ours.” Warlock piped up.

Adam gave them a quick eye roll before continuing. “Our god parent was abducted and you just what, snuck in and got him out yourself rather than calling for backup? I’m glad you made it work but for someone’s sake Crow-”

Aziraphale did interrupt this time, and Crowley wasn’t sure if he was trying to suppress a grin or grimace. “Actually, it didn’t. They captured Crowley too.”

Both humans froze, staring at the demon and angel in front of them. Adam’s eyebrow was up again, but this time Warlock wasn’t laughing.

“Adam, Warlock. Meet Eric.” Aziraphale gestured at the demon, still sitting behind them. He’d been watching the scene unfold in rapt silence, head snapping towards whoever was speaking.

“Eric let me out of my cage in Hell once Crowley was captured. He led me to wear they’d been holding him.” At this Aziraphale’s hand reached out, grabbing Crowley’s. Crowley gave it a gentle squeeze, knowing it was going to take awhile for Aziraphale to work past the scene he’d stumbled into. “Eric helped me rescue Crowley. Then we came back here. How did you find out?”

Adam stepped forward, holding out a torn sheet of paper. Crowley reached around Aziraphale to gingerly take it from his hands. He scanned it quickly. It was a demand that Adam recapture two escaped demons from Hell and return them. There were the usual threats if he didn’t follow through.

Adam’s voice was strained. “I was concerned. Two demons. Not an angel and a demon. Two demons.”

Crowley’s head snapped up. He spared a quick glance at Aziraphale, a pang going through him at the thought of the angel suffering the pain of Falling, but Aziraphale was talking before he could.

“No, no, my dear boy. I’m fine. We just have a temporary guest. He was rather interested in life up here rather than, well you know. You’ve been there.”

Adam nodded and forced a smile for Eric. Eric tried to smile in response. Warlock rolled their eyes at the lot of them and turned, holding their hand out for the demon. When Eric took it, Warlock led him off among the books, beginning to talk about where Aziraphale hid his favorites.

As the pair disappeared, Adam leveled his eyes back on the angel and demon again. “So what now?”

Crowley kept himself from laughing. “Don’t know why you think we’ve got a plan here. You know how plans go around this place.” He draped himself casually on Aziraphale, letting some of the stress flow out. “Plan was we got us and the demon that helped us back here and then, er.”

“You can’t hide out here forever.”

Silence fell. Crowley heard Eric laugh in the back of the bookshop and wondered vaguely what Warlock was showing him.

“We’ll sort it out.” Aziraphale’s voice was calm. “We always do in the end.”

“Let’s hope it doesn’t take another Apocalypse.” Adam muttered with a sigh.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warlock is using singular they/them. If this is a problem for you, you have wandered into the wrong fic.
> 
> Happy International Transgender Day of Visibility fam. Hope you enjoyed the soft.


	3. A New Arrival

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sure, one demon defecting could have gone unnoticed. Maybe. But what happens when an angel shows up?

Warlock and Eric were making their way back to the front. Crowley thought they were discussing pronouns, Warlock explaining their use of they/them to the interested demon. That was when there was a loud bell chime.

Adam took a step towards Warlock, reaching his hand out. Crowley moved closer to Aziraphale, wrapping an arm around the angel and pulling him close. They all flinched as there was a soft knock on the door.

“Trap?” Adam asked, voice strained.

Aziraphale closed his eyes briefly. “Maybe. But there’s just one out there.”

Warlock looked back and forth between Adam and the pair. “What’s out there?”

“An angel.” Crowley tried to force a smile.

There was another soft knock.

“There’s just one?” Warlock looked up at Aziraphale to confirm. When Aziraphale nodded, they quickly darted past Adam and opened the door as Adam lunged to pull them back.

The room stared at the single angel standing there. Their hair was short and blonde, but unlike Aziraphale’s it lay flat. They were shorter than the angel and demon, but taller than Warlock. Their choice in clothing fit the beiges and off whites of heaven, but seemed more like what would walk out of a mall in the 1990’s, complete with white converse all stars that seemed to have glittering stars drawn onto them. Their brown eyes peered back at the staring room.

“H- hello. I’m Raphael.” They paused, waiting. When no one moved to introduce themselves, they continued. “I, er, I heard that another demon defected. I’ve, uh, been wanting to do the same for awhile. Wondered if you all may have some pointers…” they slowly trailed off.

The rest of the room stood frozen, staring. Warlock rolled their eyes and reached out a hand. “Hello, I’m Warlock.”

This seemed to unfreeze Adam who moved to intercept until Warlocked stared him down. Raphael reached out and took their hand carefully, unsure of what to do with it. Warlock shook the angel’s hand gently, then pulled them into the room, breaking the spell that kept them out.

“So tell me, do you have a favorite food?” And they were off amongst the bookshelves, Adam trailing behind not quite able to let the two escape his line of sight.

Aziraphale turned to Crowley, face pale. “They were ignoring us but-”

Crowley grimaced, aware that Eric is watching the pair.

Aziraphale continued, softer. “We can’t turn them away.”

Crowley knew it was hopeless. He knew there was no arguing with Aziraphale once his mind was set on something like that. He tried to push down the fear rising in the back of his throat. He decided that he’d just handle the problems as they came. “Where are we going to put them?”

“There’s still space in the attic. I could miracle a bed up there easily enough. They’ll have to watch their head but it would work.”

Crowley nodded and buried his face in Aziraphale’s neck, kissing it softly. Murmuring words of love only the angel could hear. He watched a smile slowly cross Aziraphale’s face and felt the angel relax into his grasp. They’d just take one thing at a time. They’d survived the Apocalypse after all, how bad could a couple of defectors be?

\---------------------------------------

Adam sought out Aziraphale and Crowley an hour or so later. “As far as I can tell, they’re being honest. I don’t detect any lying. They just don’t like Heaven. Thought there may be something better down here.”

Crowley rolled his eyes. Aziraphale smiled. “Well, they are quite right.”

“Eventually I’m sure Warlock will finish talking to them and they’ll wander out. In the meantime, did you all have any plans for dinner? I know you don’t have to eat but-” Adam nodded his head towards the shelves. “That one does even if they don’t acknowledge it.”

“There’s a few menus for delivery in the desk drawer. That may be the best plan for the evening. Will you two be headed back to school soon?” Aziraphale began reaching for the drawer, ignoring Crowley’s low hiss as he slowly pulled from the demon’s grasp.

Adam shrugged. “We’ll see. Don’t suppose you have room for us here tonight if Warlock goes a bit overboard?”

“Of course. Crowley, why don’t you help me clear the attic? We can add some dividers and beds in there. Just in case, you know.”

Crowley rolled his eyes but followed the angel up the stairs.

Adam turned to Eric holding up the menus. “So, what type of food do you like?”

Eric’s eyes lit up. “Do they have more like pancakes?”

\------------------------------------------

Crowley coughed as the dust settled around them. He wasn’t sure how long it’d been since Aziraphale cleaned this attic, but he doubted it’d been within the last hundred years. He picked up a framed picture sitting on a dresser shoved to the side. Oscar Wilde. He stuck his tongue out at it and put it back.

Aziraphale was bustling around, stirring up more dust as boxes and furniture rearranged themselves in his wake to fit his desires.

“Was it so hard to make it breathable first, angel?”

“Don’t fuss, dear.”

Crowley snapped his fingers and the dust in the room disappeared. Half the boxes went with it.

  
“Crowely, I hadn’t sorted those yet!”

The demon sighed. “Relax, angel. I just sent them back to my flat. They’ll wait there til this is over.”

Aziraphale nodded and then took in the space in the room. He snapped as he waved his hand and six beds appeared, three lining each wall with dividers between them.

“Six, angel?”

Aziraphale turned to Crowley, face worried. “Do you think it will stop at two Crowley? Really?”

Crowley turned to face the angel. He saw Aziraphale frown as he reached for his glasses. He paused, as he always did, waiting for Crowley’s nod before pulling them from his face to find his golden eyes underneath.

“What are you trying to tell me, Aziraphale?”

Aziraphale tossed the glasses on the bed behind them before reaching up to cup his face gently. “Nothing you don’t already know, love.”

Crowley’s eyes slid shut for a moment. “There will be more coming.” Then he couldn’t stand it, he had to open his eyes, had to verify with Aziraphale. He found himself lost in a sea of blue until he realized Aziraphale was slowly nodding.

“Aziraphale, they only ignored us because it was just us. If there’s more, how do we fight all of Heaven and Hell? For them?” He fell silent for a moment. “I can’t lose you. I thought I had a few days ago, Aziraphale. I-”

He met Aziraphale’s eyes, he wasn’t sure what he was asking for. He knew Aziraphale couldn’t quite give it. Even if their situation was more stable than ever before, there was always a bit of a question to it.

One of Aziraphale’s hands reached up to card slowly through his hair. “We’ll get through it together. Like we always have. We’ll come up with a plan.”

Crowley laughed softly. “Our plans are questionable at best.”

“They’ve worked so far.”

Crowley nodded. Then he brought his face down to kiss Aziraphale softly, pulling him tight against his own body.

The two stayed like that until they heard the front bell ringing downstairs. It was just the normal human version, but still. Crowley pulled back with a soft sigh, taking a moment to stare into Aziraphale’s eyes before reaching for his sunglasses again.

Aziraphale took his hand as they went down the stairs, seeming to not be ready to give it up anytime in the near future.

\-------------------------------------------

When the pair returned to the bookshop the demon, angel, human, and antichrist were all sitting in a circle with the largest pile of take out boxes Crowley had ever seen.

Adam glanced up, grinning. “Raphael and Eric had limited experiences with food. We’re trying some out.”

Eric was wrinkling his nose at the latest bite as Raphael laughed at the look on his face. “Don’t like that. What is it?”

“Sauerkraut.” Warlock glanced at the container. “Can’t blame you, never been the biggest fan either.”

Raphael laughed at the expression on Eric’s face before reaching for another box to try.

Crowley watched them smile at the taste of fried rice while Eric was still staring at the sauerkraut as if it had betrayed him. Crowley nearly smiled as he moved forward to sit between Warlock and Raphael, watching Aziraphale take a spot between Adam and Eric.

“Beds are ready upstairs for whoever wants to sleep over. I’d of course recommend any occult or ethereal beings not leaving the bookshop until we figure out what our next move is.”

“Adam and I will stay for a bit too. We’re not needed back til tomorrow anyway.” Warlock was smiling. Not for the first time Crowley wondered how the child that was raised to be the Anti-Christ ended up being one of the more well balanced humans he’d met. Then again, the actual Anti-Christ wasn’t too bad either. 

“What do you need a bed for? We don’t need to sleep?” Raphael looked confused.

Aziraphale smiled gently. “It’s best sometimes to keep up appearances. And sleep isn’t an altogether bad thing. It can help at times. Either way it’s a space that’s yours.”

Eric snapped and a second phone appeared in his hand that he held out to Raphael. “You can always just browse on this. Help you learn about the humans.”

Raphael turned it over looking at it confusedly. Crowley spoke up. “You can’t just give it to them and not explain how to use it, here let me-”

As he reached out Warlock interrupted. “Faer. Raphael is using fae/faer pronouns.”

Raphael smiled a bit nervously. “Warlock explained them. And those felt well, right for now. They said I could change them later if I wanted to.”

Crowley looked up to the phone long enough to smile reassuringly at Raphael and then glance at Warlock. “Nonbinary agenda?”

Warlock held his hand out and Crowley grinned as he high fived them.

“At any rate, you can’t just expect to give faer a phone and for faer to know how to use it immediately. Here, this is how you turn it on…” Crowley launched into an explanation while the others continued their mismatched dinner.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I truly meant to get this chapter up in like 3-4 days. My response to not being able to do anything to get the bills paid is apparently to do all the unpaid things I've been meaning to do for months, like helping launch a new fan site. Whoops! The good news is thefabfallen.com is at least established and up even if we're still adding to it and I've got a couple new fic ideas ruminating and upcoming. I'll try to get the next chapter proof read and out a bit faster :)


	4. And then there were more

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Three more defectors show up unexpectedly, and Crowley and Aziraphale realize that they didn't have quite as much time to figure things out as they thought.

Midway through the next day Crowley was trying to explain how to use money to Raphael and Eric. While they could miracle whatever they needed, the humans would get understandably irate if you simply walked off with their objects. It was inconvenient for fitting in. Adam and Warlock had opted to leave him with the starting education and promised to be back when they could.

When he was in the middle of trying to explain bank accounts and credit cards, there was a loud thump at the door. His head turned and he saw Aziraphale look up. The door was unlocked. That was the noise of something running into it that shouldn’t be.

Crowley was on his feet, but Aziraphale was next to him before he could move towards the angel. They stared at each other.

“There’s three this time, at least at the door. Do you feel something more?” Aziraphale turned his face from Crowley and began moving towards the door.

Crowley’s voice was tight, as he followed in Aziraphale’s wake. “Yes, but it’s at least a couple blocks away.”

Aziraphale opened the door. Three beings were hunched there, Aziraphale was certain two were demons and one angel was halfway held up between them.

“Please, you have to help us.” One of the demons spoke. “We tried to stay out of the way, but they followed us, and now Charmeine is hurt.”

Aziraphale looked down at the small angel being held up. The small angel with overwhelming red curls flowing down from pers face. The red wasn’t as luxurious as Crowley’s of course. Not quite as dark. But all he could see was a demon in Eden and his hand reached out and he pulled the three of them in.

He saw the other two demons gasp as he pulled the lot through the invisible barrier and then relax. Aziraphale’s eyes were for the angel, and he quickly went to assess the burn wounds on per. He was vaguely aware of Crowley pulling the two demons away and cornering them and speaking in hushed tones.

Aziraphale spoke calmly to the red headed angel, smiling gently. Pers eyes were thankfully not golden as Aziraphale had always wondered if Crowley’s had been. Green eyes peered back into his blue ones. “May I touch you to heal you, my dear?”

“Please.” The voice was soft.

Aziraphale ran his hands down where he could see an obvious injury and break on pers ankle. He watched per breathe easier as it pulled back into place. Then he ran his hands up to where he could see burns on pers side and arm. “Did I miss anything?”

Per shook per head. “They’re following us though.”

There was another bang at the door. Aziraphale looked up and met Crowley’s eyes. The two moved towards each other, grasping hands this time as Crowley opened the door staring at the three demons and three angels standing on the doorstep.

“Yeah?” Crowley stared.

One of the angels stepped forward, then ran into the barrier. “We were after some fugitives. We’ve tracked them here. Hand them over.”

“What are they guilty of?” Aziraphale asked with vague curiosity.

“Defecting. Not following orders.” One of the demons from the back spoke up.

Crowley’s voice was sardonic. “Ah, yes. Something Hell is well known for. Hating defectors.”

“Traitor, perhaps you’d do best to get out of our way.” A second demon spoke, voice gravelly.

Aziraphale smiled gently. “Well while we thank you for stopping by, we’ll be getting on with our evening now. As you know, we’re to be left alone now at any rate.”

One of the angels nearly hissed out. “We will find them. And then they’ll be punished.”

Crowley didn’t answer as he closed the door and turned back to the silent room.

The new demons were looking at him wide eyed. Even Eric looked concerned. The angel was starting to speak. “We could- we could leave. We didn’t mean to bring trouble down on you two. You’re an inspiration you know.”

Aziraphale didn’t answer, instead he miracled up a few more chairs for everyone to sit comfortably.

Crowley was the one who asked. “How long you lot been on the run?”

“About a week.” The demon Crowley hadn’t heard speak yet responded. “I’m Firenze. That’s Damien.” he gestured at the other demon. “And the angel is Charmeine.” He paused. “I don’t know how important it is, but I’ve been using ze/zir pronouns. Damien uses she/her, and Charmeine uses per/pers.”

Crowley nodded. “Want to tell us about it? How’d you all hook up?”

Damien finally spoke, her cheeks blushing. “We all decided to just leave at the same time I suppose. Then it got dark that first night and well. We were sitting around St James Park, didn’t know what else to do. All the humans went in and it was just us, so we got to talking. We were trying not to use miracles to stay under the radar, but it didn’t work. Someone noticed eventually. Must have done a headcount I suppose.” She trailed off, looking at Charmeine.

“Late last night someone started following us muttering about a couple of demon defectors. We couldn’t resist them without using miracles, they were using them on us trying to capture us. Two demons and an angel, they kept saying.” Charmeine paused.

Eric winced.

She took a deep breath and continued on. “We didn’t want to bother you two. Didn’t want to bring more hassle down on you both. But we didn’t know what else to do. They just kept getting closer, and there were only four at first, but then there were six and we didn’t know where to go.”

“You’re safe here, my dear.” Aziraphale whispered softly.

Crowley felt his heart break in a multitude of ways at once. Love for the soft heart of his angel. Fear for what was coming next.

Eric, Raphael. Can you two show them the space in the attic? Let them claim a bed? We’ll talk about the rest in a bit but honestly right now it looks like they could all use some rest.

Eric nodded, and gestured for the others to follow him. Aziraphale noted that Charmeine was the first to move towards him, following willingly. Per didn’t know what to expect, but per felt safe.

As the rest cleared the room, Aziraphale turned to Crowley. He didn’t have to ask this time, Crowley was already reaching up to remove his glasses. Aziraphale didn’t wish he had left them on, but he did have to keep from flinching at the fear echoed in those eyes.

“Aziraphale, what are we going to do?”

“I don’t know, love.” And then Aziraphale was kissing him. Crowley felt the emotion behind the kiss. Too much, too soon. They’d nearly lost each other not two days ago and now they were facing down another threat.

Crowley wrapped his arms around Aziraphale, pulling him close to him. As the kiss broke he buried his head in the angel’s curls. “Love you, angel. We’ll work it out. Stopped the Apocalypse. This should be easy.”

Crowley loosened his grasp as he heard footsteps coming back down the stairs. Aziraphale didn’t, clinging tighter. Charmeine came into the room.

“It’s true, then?”

Crowley tightened his grip in response to Aziraphale’s grip, but he spoke over his shoulder. “What’s true?”

“You two are in love with each other. You’re together. You defied Heaven and Hell to stay together.”

Crowley couldn’t stop the smile. “Yeah, all that’s true.”

“Why? Why risk it?”

Now Aziraphale was pulling back, but he didn’t relinquish his hold on Crowley’s hand as he turned to face Charmeine. 

“Sometimes the heart does as it wants, my dear. Sometimes despite our best efforts.” He smiled apologetically at Crowley, who squeezed his hand gently. “You’ve felt love, I’m sure. I didn’t intend to fall in love with Crowley. But sometimes you have to deal with a feeling quite like a bomb exploding that you’re already there, regardless of what you would have chosen.”

“That was an actual bomb, angel.”

Charmeine looked at the two of them confused, but Aziraphale was too busy gazing at Crowley smiling and Crowley was far too happy to rest in that gaze. Charmeine cleared pers throat.

Crowley looked back at her. “Look, angel. Demons? We’re capable of love.” Aziraphale’s hand tightened on his. “And sometimes that means weird situations happen. It’d be okay if Heaven and Hell weren’t being so stubborn about it and wanting their war. But why are you here?”

“I- I couldn’t take it anymore. The rules, the cold. The lies and the hiding. How sterile it all was. I came down to Earth on assignment and it was so warm and the humans they’re just so filled with feeling.”

Aziraphale nodded. “Well. Welcome. I daresay we’re going to need to figure out a place for you to live, but there’s no reason it can’t be just as protected as the bookshop is. We’ll figure out a solution in the coming days.”

Charmeine nodded and turned to go back up the stairs. Per paused at the base. “I hope you’re right. I- I want to believe we can work this out. I want to believe that they’ll leave us alone too.” Then per fled back up the stairs without another word.

Aziraphale was meeting Crowley’s eyes again. Crowley sighed and kissed his forehead gently. “We need to find a place for them. Somewhere protected and not too far. Someone only knows how many more will show up.”

“Doesn’t the computer list buildings for sale?”

Crowley smiled. “Yes, angel. But I can look on my phone instead. That way we can sit together on the couch?” Crowley hadn’t waited for an answer, he was gently pulling Aziraphale’s hand, pulling him towards the couch. The pair heard the group upstairs laughing and Crowley sighed as he pulled the angel down into his arms on the couch, opening up a site on his phone to start looking for a new home for the defectors.

Both his arms were around Aziraphale, his chin rested on the angel’s shoulder so they could both see.

It was Aziraphale that exclaimed “Oh that’s perfect.” when they found the hotel not so far from their South Downs cottage, but on it’s own island. Crowley kissed the angel’s cheek and quickly miracled the purchase in his own cover name. Anthony J. Crowley now owned the defunct hotel.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *waves abashedly
> 
> It really is all written and I'm sitting here perfectionisting it thinking it's not enough and... sigh.
> 
> And then I realized whoever is reading this still probably wants a not quite perfect story more than you want me sitting here agonizing over my inability to write OCs well with a few notable exceptions. So here we are and I'll try to get the rest of the story up much more quickly as it's been bothering me it's not yet <3


	5. The Hotel

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A new home is established for the defectors, and more find their way there.

Crowley stepped into the hotel first, Aziraphale trailing a few feet behind him. Adam had been left to supervise their visitors at the bookshop, a requirement that Aziraphale had insisted on. Not that he didn’t rather like the defectors so far, but there’d been two almost fires and a few other small problems as the lot of them learned to both inhabit the human world and get along with each other.

They could have brought them all with them, but Crowley thought that if it did come down to a fight he’d rather just have Aziraphale at his back than the current lot of mismatched demons and angels. He grabbed Aziraphale’s hand as they entered the door.

  
The building was old and in need of remodeling, but it wasn’t anything the two couldn’t finish quickly. Though, Crowley reflected, it may be better to allow those living here to decide how they’d like it to look. He watched as Aziraphale snapped. The bit of dirt that was there disappeared and the walls went to a neutral beige. 

The angel smiled. “They can do what they like with it from here.”

Crowley nodded. “Warding spells though?”

“At the least. I don’t know if we can get it as strong as the bookshop, I don’t have the affinity for this place that the bookshop holds. But it should be enough to stop most things.”

Crowley nodded. The two turned to face each other, palms meeting. Crowley couldn’t help but smile as a gold light sparked up from their hands, through the ceiling. He felt a gradual shift as the first of the wards found the building to coat it, setting up an alarm bell.

Then he frowned as that alarm started going off.

An older looking demon was coming through the front door. Crowley’s hands fell from Aziraphale’s, but Aziraphale was faster stepping in front of Crowley and shoving him back. Crowley looked casually over the angel’s shoulder, not quite worried yet.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t want to interrupt. I heard you two were taking in defectors, and I-” The demon paused looking up at them. “I don’t know what else to do. I’m sorry. I should leave.”

The demon turned to leave, but this time it was Crowley putting his hand on the blonde demon’s shoulder and beckoning him back in. They sat and talked as Aziraphale did the rest of the warding and binding. It would be enough to keep the defectors safe when they needed it, and that was what mattered.

Aziraphale looked at Crowley sitting with the blonde demon on the floor and smiled. Another defector. The demons were staring to out number the angels by a bit though. Aziraphale wondered briefly if that would hold.

“Crowley, love, I’m finished. Should we call the others here? Help them start setting up properly?”

Crowley’s glasses dragged back to the angel, but Aziraphale recognized the look beneath them. He could picture Crowley’s eyes perfectly. He fought the urge to run forward, to embrace him.

And then before he could Crowley was standing and moving towards him, wrapping his arms around him. Settling his head on his shoulder with a contented sigh. Eventually pulling his phone from his pocket and dialing a well known number.”

“Adam. Yeah, yeah it’s ready. You want to bring them over so they can set up? See you soon.”

Crowley sighed and leaned back into the embrace. Aziraphale let his eyes slip shut, enjoying the feel of Crowley in his arms, the feel of not just safety but love and home.

A voice cleared nearby.

“So, you two.” The demon paused. “That wasn’t propaganda?”

“Nah.” Crowley kissed Aziraphale's forehead almost apologetically as he pulled back. “Since you’re the first one here though you get to pick a room first.”

“Pick a room?”

“You’ll want one for you, yeah Machlah?”

Machlah stared at the two of them, eyes wide. “I get to pick? My own room?”

Crowley beckoned Machlah up the stairs. The demon paused for a moment, then followed. Aziraphale followed at a bit of a distance, but close enough to see Machlah’s eyes light up at the view inside the third room. Aziraphale watched Machlah turn slowly, smiling at the space and then run to look out the window overlooking the water.

“How will they decorate it?” He whispered to Crowley.

Crowley smiled. “Not sure. But right now Machlah isn’t using pronouns. Using name only.”

Aziraphale nodded and watched the Machlah’s hand rest on the window, looking out. “Shall we give Machlah some time alone, then? The others will be here soon.”

Crowley nodded. Then louder he spoke. “We’ll just be downstairs if you need us Machlah. Feel free to decorate this room however feels best for you.”

Machlah smiled at them briefly then went back to looking out the window.

At the bottom of the stairs, Aziraphale pulled Crowley back into his arms. “Now, if you don’t mind, we’ll have a virtual hoard of occult and ethereal beings here soon and I quite would like-”

Crowley could help but laugh lightly. “Angel if you want me to yourself all you had to do was ask.”

Aziraphale hmped. “Well, time alone with you has been hard to come by these last few days.”

Crowley tilted his head to kiss the angel softly. Neither of them stopped until the front door banged open and their defectors poured in, trailed by a tired looking Adam.

Adam made eye contact with Aziraphale first. “Bookshops fine, really. Don’t know why you were so worried. None of that lot would dare risk upsetting you, you know. They told me off for sitting at your desk.”

Aziraphale was nearly beaming by the time Adam finished and Crowley was too busy staring at his face to remember to remind the others of the new addition. That is until he heard the yell. Then he cursed as he pelted up the stairs.

Eric was staring down Machlah, neither quite at the stage of summoning fireballs but Crowley felt they weren’t far from it. He threw himself between with a shout to wait.

Aziraphale started to come in after him and then froze at the stare Crowley gave him at the thought of the angel walking into potential hellfire. Crowley breathed heavily for a few moments, but he watched as Eric’s eyes went from confused to dawning realization. 

“Another?”

Crowley nodded. 

Machlah spoke up from behind him. “My name is Machlah. Really, I don’t mean any harm.”

As Eric relaxed, Crowley let his arms drop and started to move back towards Aziraphale and the door. “Machlah found us today. No pronouns right now, use Machlah instead. You lot can pick any room but this one. Decorate it as you want. Eric, can you be nominally in charge? As the official first of the group of defectors?”

“Yeah. Yeah ‘course.” Eric grinned. “Need a better name though. Defector Force One.”

Crowley cringed. “Keep brainstorming. Anyway. You lot get some decorating done, I’m going to take the angel home for the night.”

He put his arm around Aziraphale’s waist and half pulled him down the stairs. The others were too busy off and exploring the rooms available, Crowley wasn’t worried about them. Adam nodded as they came down and walked out.

Adam looked nervous. “You sure this is the best idea? Them all crammed up there together?”

“Better than the whole lot crammed into our attic, don’t you think? Though there’s an idea, want to bring the Them by?” Crowley queried.

“Why?” Now Adam was definitely nervous.

“Oh you know, just thought it’d do them good to be around actual humans. And the Them is hard to shake. You could bring Warlock too. Make a whole day of it. Probably some food too. They’re still adjusting the whole food thing.”

Adam was smiling now. “I’ll ask. See if they’re available. You heading back to the bookshop?”

Finally Aziraphale spoke up. “Yes, I think we quite need a night to ourselves.”

Adam couldn’t help rolling his eyes as Crowley kissed the angel gently on the cheek.

“Fine, see you tomorrow.”

\---------------------------------------------------------

Crowley was blinking slowly at Aziraphale when he finally opened his eyes the next morning. He hadn’t planned to sleep, really. Crowley smiled as he looked into the deep blue pools.

“G’morning, angel.” His speech was still a little slurred, not quite awake himself.

Aziraphale smiled, kissing the sleepy demon on the forehead softly. “Ready to wake up, my dear?”

“S’not morning yet, is it?”

“I’m afraid that’s sunlight.”

Crowley closed his eyes and nestled into Aziraphales chest. “Can’t see it now.”

Aziraphale laughed softly, tightening his arms around the demon. “We don’t need to get up and go until you’re ready, love. I’m sure if they haven’t burnt the place down overnight it’ll last a little longer.”

Both startled as they heard a crash from downstairs. Aziraphale was on his feet first, Crowley half a step behind him. They ran down the stairs to see an angel laying half broken on the floor of the bookshop, seeming to have fallen through the skylight.

“I see we missed an entryway.” Crowley muttered.

Aziraphale didn’t say anything but rushed forward. The angel was laying on the floor, long brown hair falling like a broken halo around their head. Crowley watched, standing over his shoulder defensively as Aziraphale murmured softly. The bones that looked broken straightened. The angel was breathing lighter and slowly brown eyes flickered open.

“They’re after me- I’m sorry-” And then the eyes slid shut again.

Crowley snapped. The glass disappeared, the skylight repaired. The angel was resting on a cot. “How many more, angel?”

Aziraphale shook his head. “I don’t know, but we need to get this one to the others. And start making a plan. They’re chasing them, they’re not going to stop just because they’ve found us.”

Crowley slid his hand into the angels as they manifested from the bookshop to the hotel, one sleeping angel in tow.

\----------------------------

Mattithiah (ey/em) woke up not long after and was pleased to claim a room in the basement area.

Friduric (ve/ver) and Liberius (they/them) arrived together the next day. They’d met on the main escalator exit, both terrified at first. Friduric had simply walked away from vis Heavenly duties. Liberius claimed they had seen Hastur as they fled Hell. The pair had bonded well as they searched for the others, finally simply knocking on the door to the hotel.

Lucas (xe/xem) showed up when Aziraphale and Crowley were hiding in a small chapel near the bookshop. The ground had never been consecrated, which made it a hideaway most beings never suspected to find them at. That is until Lucas came hop-skipping down the aisle as if it burned.

Crowley simply stared. “Why are you hopping?”

“Er, isn’t that how you did it? Gabriel was telling the story, apparently they had it on camera once they went back and looked.” Lucas stopped hopping.

Aziraphale looked like he was still trying to take in this information when Crowley sighed dramatically. “First of all, I was in actual pain.” He paused, staring at Lucas. “Secondly, this isn’t even consecrated ground. As you can tell. Because I’m standing here not in pain. Thirdly,” Here he paused and glanced the angel up and down. “Aren’t you from UPstairs?”

Lucas had the grace to look abashed.

Aziraphale finally got his voice back. “Wait, they have footage of that night? I wonder if one of us could go retrieve it.”

Crowley spun on the angel. “No, no you are NOT going to Heaven for an old home video of us!”

“I wouldn’t, dear it just, well you were rather dashing that night.”

Crowley tried to speak but all that came out at catching the look in Aziraphale’s eyes was “Ngk.”

Theo (he/him) had somehow managed to ship himself in a delivery box from Heaven. He’d been delivered by Leslie, who cheerfully told Aziraphale it was nice to see him again and asked for a signature for confirmation.

Pipin (fae/faer) knocked on the front door of the bookshop offering to sell wine. Fae claimed to have a wide variety, but really just had some mediocre bottles picked up from the nearest shop. Aziraphale sighed as he told the angel that fae would need to learn more about wine options.

Crowley and Aziraphale found Corinth (he/him) and Kyros (ae/aer) hiding in the bushes in St James Park. They’d tried to sneak away for a quick date evening, only to hear a rustling. Then the bushes started standing up and following them. Aziraphale had suggested ignoring them, but Crowley had turned to address the two demons. Though he didn’t berate them the way he’d wanted to.

At first they all stayed in the hotel, redecorating. Crowley was pleased to arrive one day and find the shared living areas looking much like the bookshop without the books. Eric had said it was the only place they’d all felt at home.

Each of their rooms took on a different flavor. Some were minimalist and bare. At least one was covered floor to ceilings in rainbow walls, floor, ceiling, and accessories. One was made to look like a beach, complete with sand. Each angel and demon made their own rooms to their preferences.

Warlock and Adam showed up a few days later, the Them in tow. The Them latched on to teaching the angels and demons how to behave in a human fashion. They may have also enjoyed seeing the things that the angels and demons could miracle.

At one point this resulted in an elephant being in the main hall. Aziraphale was standing in the corner staring while Crowley laughed.

After that they started coming up with a list of agreed upon guidelines for behavior in the main living areas at least. The first one was no elephants besides the new small plush that had become a sort of mascot.

Then there was the day the first non-Them human showed up. They knocked on the hotel door saying they’d heard it was a good place for queer people.

Crowley had given Aziraphale a look saying this was a bad idea, but Aziraphale had beckoned the teenager in. They needed a place to stay and were delighted that a room was available.

The secret leaked pretty quickly to the humans who came to the door, of course. The newly defected angels and demons weren’t very good at concealing things. A new balance began to emerge, all three groups co-mingling and getting along.

Crowley and Aziraphale went by most days. There weren’t many misunderstandings, but they did try to smooth over the few that came up. They weren’t aware that just their presence was enough to make most of the demons and angels reassess things. They watched the casual but clear affection between the two and realized they’d been lied to by both Heaven and Hell.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'd joke about being on a pandemic update schedule where time no longer matters, but the truth of it is I was lousy at time before too. Please have another chapter <3


	6. The Training

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An unexpected defector appears, and training begins.

A comfortable peace had fallen among the group, and some were even starting to verge out on their own or in small groups from time to time. The most common outing seemed to be trying new foods, but there were park visits and just random wanderings as well.

Aziraphale and Crowley were finally starting to think things would work out, maybe Heaven and Hell would just wash their hands of the whole affair. Then Eric was calling for them, his voice strained, from the front door.

Crowley wasn’t able to see who was at the door as Aziraphale had shoved him behind him, wings exploding to the mortal plain to wrap him in a sea of white feathers. He sputtered and tried to push gently, but the fragile wings didn’t move. He noted the rest of the room had fallen silent at his angel’s behavior. Then he heard Aziraphale’s voice.

“Michael, to what do we owe the pleasure?”

Crowley pushed harder on the wings. He saw them bristle and hissed.

“I heard you were taking in defectors.” Michael’s voice was clipped.

Crowley took the shock running through Aziraphale as the moment to make his escape from the feathered cage. He shot the angel a look as he slid his hand into his. Adam came up on Aziraphale’s other side.

“Well, yes.”

“I would like to defect.”

“You’ll understand if we’re wondering why, of course. It wasn’t that long ago that you provided the Holy Water for my trial. While I’m not worried about repeating the experiment, you understand that those here are under our protection.” Crowley’s voice was firm. Aziraphale’s hand twitched in his at the mention of Holy Water.

There was silence. Warlock and the Them came up behind Adam, flanking him as the stare down continued.

Finally Michael spoke. “I’ve had questions since that trial. About what Her plans were. Clearly, you two survived it and that must have been part of it. Since the defections have started, Gabriel’s been a bit unhinged. Controlling. He’s started doing daily head counts, tracking where everyone is. He’s- he’s controlling everyone. And he’s issuing orders we’ve never been given before. I don’t think they’re part of Her plan. He doesn’t have a checklist anymore, so he’s making things up. But the things he’s making up are questionable at best. There has to be a better way.”

Michael stopped and looked at them. The look wasn’t beseeching, but there was an underlayer of desperation.

Adam was the first one to speak. “He’s telling the truth. But there are spells. Binding spells. That would keep him from hurting anyone in here if spoken.”

“I would be willing.” Michael bowed his head. “I understand. But also, I think you’ll need me. You must know trouble is brewing for you. I don’t think Gabriel will be able to rally the armies, not truly. But he’s got enough to cause trouble backing him.”

“We’ll talk about that after we’ve ensured you’ll do no harm to anyone here.” Aziraphale’s voice was short and Crowley could feel the tension rolling off of him.

They walked Michael through the relevant binding spells. Ensuring he was incapable of causing harm, directly or indirectly, to any of the defectors. When they let him in, Crowley thought Michael was going to weep with relief and found himself weighing the angel in front of him.

Then Michael started talking. Explaining that Gabriel was trying to plan an attack, but he didn’t know how to. He knew the place was warded, but that wasn’t necessarily what was stopping him, it was the variety of beings involved. The only weapon truly effective on them all would be a flaming sword, and there was only one of those. Aziraphale smiled weakly at that.

They thanked Michael for the help and Raphael went to help him settle into a room. Adam bid them farewell and promised to be in touch. Eric promised to keep things in line at the Hotel.

Aziraphale was nearly pulling Crowley through the door when they reached the bookshop. Crowley didn’t think he’d ever seen the angel close the door as forcefully as he had at that moment and then as soon as the world was closed out Aziraphale was in his arms, shaking.

Crowley was murmuring to him, promising him he was here, that he wasn’t going anywhere. Aziraphale’s voice was broken. “You can’t know that, Crowley. I got us into this, I took them in and now-”

“And now we’re going to take Gabriel down a notch. It’ll be fine Aziraphale. And as soon as things are safe again, I’ll expect a proper date that’s not interrupted.” He kissed the angel’s curls and felt himself relax as Aziraphale relaxed into his arms.

“You truly believe that?” The angel’s voice was a whisper now.

“I do.” He didn’t add that he had to. He didn’t add that he couldn’t lose this, not now. Not ever. That he couldn’t let any harm befall Aziraphale. “Stopped the Apocalypse, angel. We can stop one wayward angel. We’ll just need to train everyone up. Got you and Michael for that.”

“Can we focus on us tonight?” Aziraphale looked up, finally meeting his eyes.

“‘Course.”

Crowley couldn’t stop the smile that came to his face as Aziraphale pulled him to the couch, curling into his arms and kissing him softly.

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------

The next morning, drills began. Crowley fought the urge to push between Michael and Aziraphale as they sparred. At first it was reasonably simple as they paired those inexperienced and let them practice beginners lessons. By the time they got to the more experienced fighters, Aziraphale and Michael were nothing more than a blur.

It made every muscle in Crowley’s body tense to watch them. He couldn’t not watch. His angel was beautiful. He winced as the blades crashed against each other and Aziraphale stared down Michael. No one was practicing now, they were all staring at the pair.

Then Aziraphale’s leg snaked out, tripping Michael from behind, as his blade slid to Michael’s wrist flipping Michael’s sword away. Michael tried to get back to his feet, but this time Aziraphale was faster. Michael ended up on his back, sword as his neck.

“Do you yield?”

“You cheated.”

Aziraphale grinned and Crowley felt his heart restart. Just enough of a bastard to keep himself safe it seemed. 

The two stayed locked in position a few minutes more, everyone looking on. Finally Michael spit out. “Fine. I yield.”

Aziraphale stepped back immediately. He glanced first at the others, but he was searching and his eyes lit up as he found Crowley’s face.

Crowley slid closer, wrapping his arms around him. He whispered in his ear. “You didn’t need to show off for me, angel. Really.”

Aziraphale laughed before turning back to the rest of the students still in the yard, staring on. And then his face turned serious. They had so much more to learn.

The largest breakthrough came when they realized that most of the students did better paired angel with demon in a fight. As long as they could focus on the fight at hand and not their partner in battle, things went unusually well.

Raphael and Damien seemed to do exceptionally well together, the two quickly moving to a point where Aziraphale couldn’t fight them alone. Crowley had to join in. They lost then, but only because while Crowley wasn’t as adept a fighter as Aziraphale he was far better at unexpected attacks. Aziraphale quickly set him training the others in sly attacks.

When they weren’t training, they were examining how to fortify the Hotel. While the wards should help keep demons and angels out, there were weak spots that needed to be addressed. And then there was the concept of being able to launch an attack from within the building itself.

It turned out when Kyros and Corinth realized the limitations of plants shouldn’t move, they were rather good at inventive counter attacks from inside. So they went to work, creating automatic defenses and those that could be launched outward.

  
This was where the humans stepped in. They reasoned they couldn’t keep up in the thick of battle, one look at the practice with wings popping out on occasion and superhuman strength had convinced them of that. So the humans took up the defensive spots. The angels and demons reset their spells to be operable to human hands within the Hotel.

Crowley wasn’t beginning to relax, but he was beginning to think there was a chance.

That was when Beelzebub arrived. Zzzzzze didn’t ask to come in, instead the Prince of Hell beckoned Crowley and Aziraphale out. “I need to speak with you. Privately.”

Crowley was terrified, but he let Aziraphale’s hand slip into his as they made their way out of the Hotel. Beelzebub didn’t stop until they were off the island and away from any angelic or demonic eyes. Then zzzzzze spun to face the pair.

“You have a traitor.”

Crowley felt his stomach sink. He’d known it was too good to be true, too good to hold up.

It was Aziraphale that spoke. “Who?”

Beelzebub shook zzzzzzir head. “I don’t know. But someone is passing information to Gabriel.”

Crowley found his voice. “So he’s trying to get you involved in this fight?”

Beelzebub smirked. “Of course. He’d like more back up. But you know, we understand a bit of rebellious behavior.” Beelzebub paused for a moment. “We won’t interfere. As long as you all keep out of our way.”

Crowley nodded, surprised but relieved. Beelzebub gave them both a respectful look, then turned and marched off.

“Crowley, what are we going to do?” Aziraphale’s voice was desperate.

Crowley silently cursed whoever had put his angel in this spot. He wasn’t sure who it was or what to do about it yet, but the broken look in Aziraphale’s eyes was breaking his heart. He pulled the angel into his arms. “We’ll figure it out, angel. Like we always do.” Crowley reached up to brush away the tear that was tracking down Aziraphale’s face.

“We took them in. I should have- I could have-”

“Don’t blame yourself, Aziraphale. You did what needed to be done.”

“I should have known.”

Crowley pulled his glasses off and tossed them aside. Then he gently placed his finger under Aziraphale’s chin bringing it up until he was looking him in the eye. “Angel, no. You’re not responsible for their decisions. They came to us in good faith, and you treated them that way. Which is what you had to do. For the one traitor back there, there are dozens that aren’t. Dozens that you helped protect.”

Aziraphale fell silent in his arms.

“We just need to figure out who it is. Don’t suppose you think it’s Michael?”

Aziraphale shook his head. “No, Michael’s a lot of things but on this I think he’s telling the truth.”

“Who else do you trust?”

“You. Eric. Anyone else could be questionable.”

Crowley nodded. “So, we compartmentalize information best we can. And we’re careful who we share things with until we figure this out.”

“And back to training?”

“Back to training.”


	7. The Fight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things finally come to a head as a heavenly force seeks out the defectors.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Updated the tags for Major Character Death as it is a named character in the show.
> 
> No, it's not Aziraphale or Crowley. Or Eric. Eric's a little cinnamon roll that I will utterly protect.
> 
> It's going to start scary, it'll end okay.

Crowley couldn’t help but watch every member of the Hotel, wondering who the traitor could be. He didn’t even limit it to angel or demon, but watched the humans as well. He had to admit to himself that he wondered if Beelzebub had been lying to them, just to get them to second guess each other. Either way, he reasoned, watching was a solid plan.

And most of those inhabiting the Hotel didn’t notice the small snake curled in the rafters looking down. He was amused to see Eric give him an raised eyebrow on day one, but the demon said nothing and Crowley didn’t offer more information.

Aziraphale would at times give some pointed sighs as he glanced upward. Crowley would have smiled if he’d been in human form. As is, he’d just let his tail wave slightly until the angel looked away.

The problem was, he wasn’t seeing anything out of the usual. The normal lessons and discussions of Earth and how to fit in took place in the common areas. There were occasional pranks, but nothing that Crowley could see that was truly malevolent.

He kept watching. But sometimes he nodded off in the sun.

It was one of those times he awakened to being picked up, not gingerly as Aziraphale sometimes would were he trying to not wake him and take him home for the evening. This was a shove. And before Crowley could see who it was, he was crammed into a box that must have been blessed. There was a small scrap of wood for him to curl up on the bottom, but anytime he tried to touch the edges they burned.

He considered changing form, but he didn’t know if he could break through, nor what was holding the box shut. He hissed as he was jostled.

A voice he couldn’t quite place said quietly. “Stop it. It’s not my fault you opted to go against the natural order of things and side with an angel. Now we need you to draw him out.”

Crowley hissed again. The box shook and had he been human he would have gasped with pain as he slid against the side of it.

“I said stop it. And don’t think about trying to get out of that box, it’s proofed against that.”

Crowley sat in silence until the box opened. Had he been armed, he would have tried to fight. But unarmed, in the wrong form he knew there was no fighting the force standing in front of him, weapons drawn. 

A confident voice from behind spoke. “I’m going to need you in your other form, if you don’t mind. We’ll need the full effect, and besides, blessed ropes are rather hard to tie around a snake.”

\------

Aziraphale hadn’t been worried at first when he’d come out to find Crowley not in the same comfortable perch he’d been inhabiting. He moved around fairly often. While he said it was to find better vantage points, Aziraphale had a sneaking suspicion it also had quite a bit to do with finding the best sunning location.

It had been when he went to head to the cottage that evening that he’d started to worry. Crowley wasn’t in any of the common nooks and crannies. More worrisome, when he started to call there was no answer. He saw Raphael peek faer head around the corner. 

“Everything alright, Aziraphale?”

“I can’t find Crowley. He’s probably just fallen asleep somewhere but-”

“Did you try feeling for his aura?”

Aziraphale mentally chastised himself for being a foolish principality and closed his eyes and reached out. Nothing. For the first time, he started to be truly concerned. When he opened his eyes, Raphael was still looking at him.

“It’s alright, Aziraphale. We’ll find him.”

As Raphael was gathering up the few others that had been in faer room, they all heard what was unmistakably a battle horn outside. Aziraphale felt the blood drain from his face. Then there was a hand in his.

“Aziraphale. Aziraphale, what’s wrong?” It was Warlock looking at him, imploringly.

“Crowley’s missing. And the horn. That’s a battle call.” Aziraphale started moving towards the window, Warlock a step behind him.

He stared out at the scene below him. What registered first was that while it wasn’t the Heavenly armies, it was a definite trained full regiment of angels in formation. At the front was Gabriel, holding what appeared to be Aziraphale’s flaming sword. Kneeling, hands bound back and sword at his throat was Crowley.

Aziraphale thought his heart may have stopped in his chest. Not that he needed it. Not that his heart wasn’t out there in the field, with a flaming sword pointed at it.

Adam’s voice was in his ear. “Warlock, get the others and get them to the lobby. Aziraphale. AZIRAPHALE.”

Aziraphale didn’t move. He was staring at how Crowley’s head was bent downwards instead of staring up defiantly as he’d expect. He was cringing away from the flames. Crowley was never bothered by fire.

Adam’s voice cut in again. “Aziraphale, you’re not going to help him frozen up here. You’re the soldier. Think. Let’s get downstairs.”

Adam grabbed his hand and pulled him away from the window. As soon as he couldn’t see Crowley, Aziraphale felt his brain starting to move again. He ran through every classic military technique he could think of. None worked. He needed Crowley. He didn’t have Crowley. What would Crowley do?

Michael eyed him up as he came downstairs. “Aziraphale, I need to know you can handle this. Or do you want to cede me control?”

“I’ll be fine as soon as-”

“We’re not going to get him back, Aziraphale.” Michael broke in. Not harshly, but in a matter of fact tone. Aziraphale knew Michael had rolled through the military options too. But Michael didn’t have the advantage of having known Crowley for six thousand years. There was always a way.

“We will. And you’re not alone, Aziraphale.” Charmeine put perself between Aziraphale and Michael. “We’re not giving up on him, Aziraphale.”

Aziraphale looked at Charmeine’s red hair. He tried to find his hope. Red hair. Hands, red hair. Not now.

“I could manifest one of my doubles across the field. Do like we did in Hell, take him by surprise.” Eric started the speculation.

“Won’t work.” Damien cut in. “There’s too many of them right there, we’ve got to find a way to get him out of there, not us to him.”

“Adam, can’t you-” Warlock began but he saw Adam shaking his head.

Adam was staring at Aziraphale. “There’s things I can do, but I can’t take away free will. Like it or not, that’s Gabriel’s will out there. Some things I just can’t step into. I can protect you if you’re next to me, but not from that far away.”

The room fell silent. Finally it was Warlock who spoke up again. “What would happen if I just summoned him? I used to do that as a child when I needed Nanny.”

Aziraphale’s head turned. “Crowley taught you a summoning spell?”

Warlock shrugged. “Told me it was for when I had nightmares and I was only to use it when I was alone. I didn’t need it often, but…” They trailed off. “But if I summoned him now, it would work. It’s just that it takes at least a few seconds. We’d need a distraction.”

Aziraphale smiled. “That will be our job then. I can start the discussion, see if I can get him talking. Then we need something bold. Warlock how long do you need?”

“Oh about thirty seconds to do the summoning then maybe three or four more for him to phase in. I can start it before so we only really need those three to four if we can time it right.”

Pipin piped up. “I can rig one of the cannons for a fireworks glitter explosion. Was saving it for the next party but” Pipin gave a shrug of faer shoulders.

Aziraphale nodded. It wasn’t the best plan, but it was the plan they had. He glanced up at Michael who was staring on in silence, then watched as he gave a brief nod.

“Coordinate in here for your timing. As soon as possible. I’m going to go outside and stall.” Aziraphale looked over the small group in the room. “Eric, Michael, Charmeine, and Firenze you with me. The rest of you stay in here and be ready. Adam, I want you watching from the window just in case you can assist anyway.”

Aziraphale didn’t pause to see if his instructions were followed, he just started heading towards the door. It’d be long, far too long since he’d laid eyes on Crowley. And he’d left his heart in far too precarious a position.

He nearly sighed in relief when he saw Crowley was still kneeling upright as he walked from the front door of the hotel, neatly flanked by the other four.

Aziraphale walked mid-way into the field and then froze as soon as Gabriel moved the sword an inch closer to Crowley. Crowley was keeping his face calm, but he leaned back, further away from the blade. Aziraphale could feel his heart again, now it was in his throat.

“Are you alright, my dear?”

Crowley smiled. “Sure, angel. Fine. Lovely day isn’t it?”

Gabriel kicked him.

Without thinking, Aziraphale felt his wings manifest, posturing in the air as he stared at the arch angel. “Can I help you, Gabriel?”

“I assume you would like this” and he nudged Crowley with his foot again, “Utter waste back. We’ll just need your surrender.”

Aziraphale paused and let his eyes settle on Gabriel’s. “I’ll only ask you once to not to be derogatory towards my spouse.”

Gabriel’s mouth dropped open. It wasn’t the only one that did. While Aziraphale and Crowley had never hidden their affections, he supposed their wedding hadn’t been overly attended. 

Gabriel began to sputter. “You- that is- There’s no- That’s blasphemy!”

Before Gabriel could gather his wits about him for a proper response there was a bang from above. Aziraphale didn’t look up, his eyes were only for Crowley. He mouthed the word go, hoping Crowley would understand and not resist the summons. 

The only acknowledgement he had was Crowley’s eyebrows raising, but then the demon was fading from view and Gabriel was still looking up at whatever was going on in the sky. Someone tried to lunge at Crowley from behind at the last moment, but one of Eric’s doubles was there, intercepting them. Then the double faded back from view again.

And then Aziraphale realized who had lunged. Friduric was glaring at the space Crowley had just been inhabiting and Aziraphale no longer felt his blood run cold. Now he was angry. He heard a series of mutters behind him and saw Friduric look up, realizing his mistake in drawing attention to himself.

Finally Gabriel looked back at the space where Crowley had been, seemingly shocked at the disappearance of his prisoner. He turned to look at Aziraphale, then without warning he dived, sword swinging for the angel.

It seemed a thousand thoughts ran through Aziraphale’s head as he instinctively tried to dodge. Chief among them was that Crowley was never going to forgive him for being a fool and not having his sword at the ready.

Then Michael was shoving him back, standing over him, sword drawn to intercept Gabriel’s.

Aziraphale lurched back, falling into Firenze’s arms. He smiled up at the demon. Aziraphale moved to pull himself to his feet. The angels that had come with Gabriel weren’t moving, seeming to wait for a signal. Gabriel and Michael were moving so fast they were a blur.

He turned back to see Charmeine and Eric staring down the fighting pair. He was about to order them to get the others and get to places when Firenze spoke from right next to him.

“I’m- I’m sorry Aziraphale. Really.”

There was a loud screeching noise and a flash of light and Aziraphale was falling.

\----

Crowley couldn’t help but smile at Warlock’s smirk.

“Welcome back, Nanny.” Warlock’s hands were tugging the rope off his wrists.

“Glad you remembered that lesson.” 

“Never know when you may need a demon up your sleeve.” Warlock shrugged.

Crowley grinned. Then he heard a shout from outside. He threw an apologetic glance at Warlock as he ran for the door.

Crowley saw the blast of light as Firenze reached for Aziraphale. He felt some energy, perhaps Hell Fire? He wasn’t sure. And then Aziraphale was falling. Crowley ran. He saw Firenze look up and then disappear.

And then he reached Aziraphale, and stood over him, pulling two daggers from their sheaths as the angels following Gabriel advanced. He needed to check on him. He couldn’t right now.

He heard a shout and was vaguely aware of more beings pouring from the front of the Hotel, but he didn’t have time to register it as the first angel was diving, sword drawn. Daggers weren’t ideal in his situation, he didn’t have the long reach to protect Aziraphale. But he moved as fast as a cobra over and around the angel, protecting him as the onslaught continued.

Finally there was a pause and Crowley had a chance to look around. There were fights surrounding him and more corporations than he wanted to think of on the ground. The front of the Hotel still stood. He turned his attention back to Aziraphale.

Breathing. Angel was breathing. He placed a hand on him, watching the fight. He couldn’t sense anything too dangerous, Aziraphale was just out cold. He sent a burst of healing, hoping it would help. Then he noticed how close Michael and Gabriel were. He glanced down at Aziraphale. A choice to make.

“Eric. Can you watch over Aziraphale? He should wake up soon but-”

“I’ve got him. No one will touch him.” Eric stepped closer to Aziraphale as Crowley backed away. Charmeine came to cover Eric’s back. Crowley raised an eyebrow at that, but said nothing as he turned.

“OI! Michael! Don’t you have cannons to manage? You know, back in the back place?”

Both Gabriel and Michael paused, then Michael shrugged. “I suppose, if you’d like to take over for me here.”

“You can’t expect me to fight THAT.” Gabriel glowered at Crowley.

Crowley smirked as he raised his blades. “Worried, Gabriel?”

Michael took a defensive step back as Crowley moved forward. Once out of range, Michael turned and headed across the battlefield.

“So tell me Gabe,” Crowley began to circle. “Why wasn’t Michael of all people able to land a single blow? I saw one skate off of you.”

Gabriel smirked. “You didn’t think I’d take some extra precautions before coming down here?”

Gabriel took a swing of the sword that Crowley easily deflected, still circling and forcing Gabriel to turn with him.

“Oh, of course. I was just curious, professional interests and all. I could see the glints of miracles, but wasn’t sure what the cause was.”

Gabriel took another swing, this time twisting one of Crowley’s daggers from his hand. Crowley watched as it flew into the field.

“I did notice you were watching those hits that Michael was throwing at you rather closely.”

Gabriel growled and swung again. Crowley’s other dagger went flying. Gabriel approached, sword held towards Crowley’s neck.

“Seeing as your about to die I suppose there’s no harm in telling you that anything I saw coming I could deflect.”

“Let me ask you one thing Gabriel.” Crowley flourished his hand pointing at the field. “How is this the greater good?”

“Don’t lecture me about the greater good, demon, I’m-”

Crowley smirked. “The Archangel Fucking Gabriel?”

Gabriel froze. “It can’t be. You- you absolute-”

Crowley smiled. Then he watched his own demonic dagger come out the front of Gabriel’s chest.

Gabriel had a moment to look down before he faded to dust.

Crowley waved at Michael. “Thanks for the assist.”

“Do you always walk the line this closely?” Michael handed him the dagger.

“Nah this one was pretty planned out for me, really.” Crowley’s eyes tracked back to finding Aziraphale over Michael’s shoulder. He froze for an instant, then he was pushing past Michael at a sprint.

He watched six Eric’s standing over Aziraphale. One by one they were being obliterated by Hastur’s hell fire as the demon laughed. He could see the real Eric shaking but holding firm in front of Aziraphale as Crowley ran up behind him, pushing him to the side. Crowley knew Eric’s true form would be immune to hell fire.

He also knew that Hastur was smiling.

Crowley dove pushing Eric down as Hastur’s hand shot out, grasping nothing but air.

From the ground he rolled and was on his feet again smiling at the demon. “Changed your allegiances these days, Duke Hastur?”

Hastur turned to him, growling. “Beelzebub wouldn’t see sense. Didn’t want to get involved. Demons defecting all over the place, but zzzzzze was just going to let it happen.

Crowley watched one of Eric’s duplicates run off. He opted for stalling and hoped the other demon had a plan. “What’s Beez going to do once someone reports back? Says you were here?” Crowley noticed a twitch from Aziraphale, saw his eyes starting to flutter open.

“I suppose I’ll deal with that when it happens. Best to just ensure that no one’s here to report back, isn’t it?” Hastur lunged at Crowley.

Crowley dodged, surprised to see how fast Hastur was on his feet. But now they were further from Aziraphale. That was good. He saw the angel starting to sit up. He wondered where Eric’s duplicate was.

He took a swipe at Hastur with one of his daggers. Not that he thought it would work, but now there were a few more feet from Aziraphale and a few feet closer to Eric who was turning to take something from one of his duplicates. He vaguely noticed they were both wearing gloves.

Eric turned, shouting. “Hastur, do you know what this is?”

Both eyes were drawn to Eric.

Eric grinned. “This is what the humans call a super soaker.”

Eric pulled the trigger and Crowley watched the water arc through the air. He watched Hastur try to dodge, before the holy water hit him. Eric continued firing, and they both watched as Hastur melted into the ground.

As they both stared at the spot, Aziraphale approached. He gingerly took the water gun from Eric’s hands, passing it to one of the other angel defectors standing behind him.

Crowley was staring, watching his angel’s movements. He was walking normally, seemed alright. Aziraphale turned and smiled at Crowley. “I don’t make much of a leader, do I, being taken out that early?”

Crowley’s hand came up to grab Aziraphale’s gently. “S’not your fault, angel.”

Eric cleared his throat. “Not to interrupt the moment, but you know. Battle?”

Crowley watched Aziraphale wink, then they both turned back to the field at hand. Things were calm where they were, but that was because the majority of the forces were focused on the Hotel now. Sandalphon seemed to be leading them.

Crowley watched perplexed seeing a group of humans inside throwing an arm chair at one of the windows. With the second throw, the window shattered and the group of humans fell out onto a demon that had been shielded by the bushes. A demon that was shielded by the bushes right next to one of their warding stones.

He heard his voice shout “Don’t” as Aziraphale’s said “No!” and they watched the wave of hell fire from the demon swoop over the humans. The armchair burst into flames, the humans stood seemingly unscathed brushing the dirt off themselves.

Crowley was again running across the field, this time Aziraphale at his side, keeping up despite his protests. The demons the humans had attacked were still standing there perplexed as Crowley skittered to a halt.

  
“You lot, inside NOW.” Crowley commanded. Then he turned to the demons. “Get out and don’t come back.”

The demons looked at the humans. Then they looked at the angel at Crowley’s side. Both disappeared in a small puff of black smoke.

“What was that?” Aziraphale asked softly.

“It appears we’ve underestimated the humans. Always knew they were immune to holy water of course. Never thought to try them against hell fire.” Crowley eyed the battle field. He saw whispering heads.

Word of the humans surviving hell fire seemed to be causing a break in the ranks, though he knew that losing both Hastur and Gabriel was probably contributing as well. He watched the news reach Sandalphon who was mounting another attack on the far end of the Hotel. Sandalphon looked up and seemed pained, but he shouted something and Crowley watched the forces retreating. From inside the hotel there was a cheer.

Crowley watched perplexed as a portion of the force that had been near the back peeled away, throwing down their weapons and walking towards Aziraphale and Crowley hands raised. The rest of the force was gradually disappearing, phasing out.

“We want to defect!” The angel in the front was shouting.

Crowley shrugged his shoulders and looked at Aziraphale. “More to the cause?”

“I think after our, er, experiences today we should perhaps make them go through the same process Michael did.”

Crowley nodded. “Seems fair enough.”

A loud boom went off from above and Crowley watched a glitter firework explode in the sky. He glanced back down at the field to see the Earth’s Side team starting the celebrations. Damien and Raphael were kissing ardently.

Crowley thought that wasn’t the worst of ideas and turned towards Aziraphale. Before he could lean in, Aziraphale’s lips were already on his, and he could feel the angel grinning and see his eyes dancing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just an epilogue left <3


	8. The Epilogue

**One Year Later**

Crowley watched idly as a demon helped Warlock hold a bit of hell fire in his hands. He couldn’t summon it, but they’d found over the intervening year that just like holy water humans had some control. Of course, perhaps it was the proximity to a bunch of angels and demons that they seemed to be picking up other talents too. Anathema training them all on witchcraft had also probably helped.

No one worried about coming or going from the Hotel anymore, nor the bookshop. Both were safe havens of their own sort, though the bookshop would always be Crowley and Aziraphale’s home.

Michael had returned to Heaven, aghast at the idea that it could be left in Sandalphon’s care. It turned out the other angels were happy to have him back. Things had changed up there. Beelzebub had changed things down below as well. Both sides were free to visit whenever they wanted, and both had decided standing down was a better option.

While there was a host of angels and demons who always lived at the Hotel, it’s caretakers as they called themselves, most went out to find their own ways together. Some of them alone, some of them in pairs or small groups. Sometimes they were accompanied by humans as well.

Adam, Warlock, and the Them had spent a summer in the Hotel helping with it’s set up, but now came by just to visit. But there were always plenty of other humans that wandered in, attracted by whatever drove them there.

Eric was nominally in charge, but it was Charmeine that everyone turned to keep things running smoothly. Per flourished under the responsibility and Eric instead turned to helping everyone settle. He was good at figuring out the demons and angels that came their way and what they needed.

Aziraphale’s hand came down to card gently through Crowley’s hair. 

“Hello, angel.”

“I believe that I’m owed a proper evening tonight, if I recall our calendar plans.”

“What did you have in mind?”

“Well, you should see the lovely options I found at the winery this afternoon. They look positively enticing.”

Crowley let his angel lead him away from the Hotel. No one gave their casual affection a second glance anymore. There was a new kind of normal now for everyone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Short, but I hope sweet. Thanks for sticking with me through this one <3

**Author's Note:**

> I've been working on this fic off and on for a couple months now. I'm hoping by posting it and seeing some kudos and comments it'll encourage me to get this thing done faster. Mostly it's that every chapter I write seems to want to turn into two chapters, which is both really wonderful and an utter pain.
> 
> Five chapters are fully written and I'm hoping to keep to about once a week but I make no promises. ADHD and anxiety coupled with what's going on right now and sometimes writer's block are a mess. Bear with me folks <3
> 
> The first chapter is a bit longer than the rest so far, I honestly just didn't want to break it into two pieces. Reading cliff hangers makes me anxious, and I try not to leave them if I can help it ;)

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [A Place of Safety](https://archiveofourown.org/works/24295516) by [lyricwritesprose](https://archiveofourown.org/users/lyricwritesprose/pseuds/lyricwritesprose)




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